First, it was the Detroit Lions. Sunday, it was the Seattle Seahawks.
Another much-ballyhooed matchup, one other week of the Ravens successful in a rout, and doing so led by a protection that’s already one of the best within the NFL by any variety of metrics — and seemingly rising stronger by the week.
Two weeks in the past, the Lions roared into M&T Bank Stadium with a 5-1 document and surrounded by speak of title competition and had been utterly shut down, run off the sphere by an explosive offensive assault on the primary 4 drives of the sport. Sunday, it was the Seahawks’ flip. It took slightly longer this time, however not by a lot.
The Ravens held the Seahawks to a meager 151 complete yards, together with simply 28 dashing, sacked quarterback Geno Smith 4 occasions and intercepted him as soon as, and allowed just one third-down conversion in 12 makes an attempt en path to a 37-3 blowout.
That allowed them to pour it on offensively, rolling up 515 yards, together with 298 on the bottom for the fourth-highest dashing complete in franchise historical past.
“As a coach, it’s fulfilling because all the things you work on, all the things the guys work on, you see it transferred onto the field in a game,” coach John Harbaugh mentioned. “That’s what you’re enthusiastic about.
“But you also understand it’s one win.”
And one other assertion by a group that appears an increasing number of like a Super Bowl contender every passing week.
“We talk about dominating,” mentioned Ravens outdoors linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who had two sacks. “That’s something we lean on each other for and we mean it.”
They proceed to indicate it, too. Baltimore has allowed an NFL-best 13.8 factors per recreation and leads the NFL in sacks. Safety Geno Stone’s six interceptions — he acquired one other one on Sunday — are additionally essentially the most within the league. And the Ravens are permitting a landing on solely 8.7% of opposing drives, in line with Tru Media.
Since 2000, just one protection has been higher: The 2000 Ravens.
The distinction between that group and this one — aside from a championship, for now — is that the present model doesn’t have the sort of star energy that one did. Give it time. Sunday marked the thirtieth straight recreation that the Ravens recorded at the very least one sack, a franchise document, as Justin Madubuike and Odafe Oweh every added a sack to go along with Van Noy’s pair.
Maduibuike’s first-quarter sack of Smith on third-and-11 from the Seahawks’ 46 additionally ended what had been a stable drive. Baltimore didn’t rating within the first quarter for the primary time all season, however following the cease it marched 81 yards in 12 performs, with Gus Edwards (5 carries, 52 yards) plunging in from 4 yards out for the sport’s first rating.
Then the Ravens’ protection struck once more, with Stone intercepting Smith on a lollipop cross because the pocket started to break down across the quarterback. On the Seahawks’ subsequent collection, Madubuike, who leads inside linemen with 7 1/2 sacks, made the sort out on one other third-down try.
That arrange one other Baltimore march, this one protecting 84 yards in 10 performs and ending with one other Edwards landing, this time from 3 yards away.
With six touchdowns in his previous three video games, Edwards tied for essentially the most touchdowns in a three-game span in Ravens historical past. The others to take action had been Marcus Robinson (2003) and Willis McGahee (2009).
And simply when it appeared just like the Seahawks may get again into the sport after large receiver Odell Beckham Jr. fumbled with underneath a minute to go within the first half and Seattle taking on on the Ravens’ 43, the protection once more snuffed out any likelihood of that with back-to-back sacks by Van Noy. The second compelled a fumble that was recovered by the Ravens.
“That’s the turning point of the game,” Harbaugh mentioned. “For that situation to turn out the way it did … it flipped the whole thing around. That was massive.”
And just the start of the top for the Seahawks.
After a pair of Justin Tucker area targets to open the second half and the Ravens up comfortably, 23-3, rookie Keaton Mitchell broke the sport open with a 40-yard dash into the top zone late within the third quarter. Then, he added a 60-yarder that helped arrange Odell Beckham’s first landing as a Raven, a cross that got here from backup quarterback Tyler Huntley after Lamar Jackson had been pulled from the sport with the Ravens in management.
Mitchell, an undrafted free agent out of East Carolina whose father, Anthony, made one of the indelible performs in Ravens historical past, completed with a game-high 138 yards on 9 carries.
Jackson, in the meantime, did his half, too, with 60 yards on 10 rushes, whereas Justice Hill chipped in with 40 on 13 carries.
“You truly don’t know where they are going to go,” Seahawks defensive finish Dre’Mont Jones mentioned. “They are honest in what they do, but sometimes, you know, with the type of players they have in the backfield, the ball can go anywhere.”
It helps to have top-of-the-line offensive strains within the NFL. Even with out proper sort out Morgan Moses, who sat due to a shoulder harm, Patrick Mekari stuffed in fantastically. And others, resembling middle Tyler Linderbaum, who was effectively downfield blocking on Mitchell’s 60-yard gallop, and left sort out Ronnie Stanley helped clear the way in which.
“It was really gratifying to get that type of performance on the ground, and I felt like we could’ve done that even more and could have definitely kept pushing the ball and keep our defense off the field and even get more time of possession,” Stanley mentioned. “There was quite a lot of motion [the defense was] giving us. We had to verify we run the correct folks on the proper time and everybody working in unison and that goes again to our preparation.
“The second half we started to really pick up the running game a lot more and there were moments we ran the ball five plus times in a row and kept getting first down and first down. That would be demoralizing for any defense.”
And empowering for an offense that doesn’t at all times must be carried by Jackson, who was an environment friendly 21-for-26 with 187 yards passing however was with no landing.
“I think this is the most talented team I’ve been a part of, the team with the most potential since I’ve been here,” mentioned Stanley, who additionally performed on the Ravens’ 2019 group that received 12 in a row in the course of the common season and ended with Jackson be named unanimous NFL Most Valuable Player. “I still believe that.”
Baltimore is taking part in prefer it, too.
“We don’t just go out there just to win,” Van Noy mentioned. “We want to dominate and show [that] we try to be the best defense in the country. Can’t say the world because that’s crazy.”
Or not so loopy in spite of everything.
Week 10
Browns at Ravens
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Fox
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 4 1/2
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Source: www.bostonherald.com